10% Discount Or 25 Servings Free

I will have a bridal show next month and would like to offer some kind of incentive, so that brides book their date at the show.Some body here at CC mentioned it, I PM her and she said it worked for her. (Thanks Jen for your quick response).

I was reading about discounts and they say it might sound like my prices are not were they are suppousse to be in the first place.

Some body else said: instead of discount offer something else. So I thought about 25 servings FREE. If they book their wedding date, at the show with a $50 deposit.

The lady here at CC told me and I quote: I had brides running to the atm to get their $50. Trust me, if they want the discount, they will find a way.

Me as a tough consumer, think that $50 its too much, so I thougt by sayins its a Fully-refundable deposit brides will have less fear of booking right there.

Am I being too nice or too strict? What are your comments about this?. Have any of you done this before? any comments about the deal? what about rules and restrictions.

For example: The order should have a minimum of 100 servings, Tasting should be within 90 days, etc.

What do you think the bride would prefer?, the discount or the FREE servings?.

Any comments are welcome

PS, oh I forgot to mention 90% of my sales are a result of the show. So this show does work for me.

I will tell you right now that the deposit being refundable is probably not gonna fly with too many people around here. Why you may ask, because when the bride books that date in your calendar, that's time you have set aside to do their cake. If they cancel, then you will be up the creek and no funds brought in because they cancelled and you don't have any profit.

I would probably go with the 10% of if they book with you and pay $50 deposit that is non-refundable.

I will have a bridal show next month and would like to offer some kind of incentive, so that brides book their date at the show.Some body here at CC mentioned it, I PM her and she said it worked for her. (Thanks Jen for your quick response).

I was reading about discounts and they say it might sound like my prices are not were they are suppousse to be in the first place.Some body else said: instead of discount offer something else. So I thought about 25 servings FREE. If they book their wedding date, at the show with a $50 deposit.

The lady here at CC told me and I quote: I had brides running to the atm to get their $50. Trust me, if they want the discount, they will find a way.Me as a tough consumer, think that $50 its too much, so I thougt by sayins its a Fully-refundable deposit brides will have less fear of booking right there.

Am I being too nice or too strict? What are your comments about this?. Have any of you done this before? any comments about the deal? what about rules and restrictions.For example: The order should have a minimum of 100 servings, Tasting should be whit in 90 days, etc.What do you think the bride would prefer?, the discount or the FREE servings?.

Any comments are welcome

PS, oh I forgot to mention 90% my sales are a result of the show. So this show does work for me.

I would offer 10% discount and would absolutely with no doubt charge the $50 nonrefundable deposit. If you don't ask for a nonrefundable deposit and the bride cancels at the last minute then you lost those funds plus funds you may have made if you hadn't booked that day for the bride. Hope this makes sense.Tammie

I offer 10% off your first order (no matter how large or small) for all NEW customers! This has been the deciding factors for a lot of brides (at least that's what they tell me)...because I'm more expensive than other people in my area, but the brides prefer my cake and my abilities to the other baker here. however in this economy everyone wants to get the best deal they can.....so 10% off makes them feel like they're getting a deal on a better tasting and looking cake and they don't feel so guilty spending the extra $per serving.

But let's put this is perspective...10% off their CAKE, this doesn't include, rental fees, deposits, or delivery charges...this is off their cake. So if they order a $700.00 cake...that's only $70 off....not so much in the grand scheme of things for that order. Especially for a cake that most likely costs me under $100 to make!

I'd keep the deposit in tact.... $50.00 down at the time of booking, non-refundable unless YOU cancel (not the bride's fault). These brides are used to hearing that the deposits are non-refundable and trust me $50.00 is NOT a large deposit when planning a wedding, not by a long-shot! Also, that $50.00 won't seem like very much when you've turned down 3 other cakes to accomodate that bride and then she cancels on you and you have NOTHING to show for that date!

If you are wanting to offer a specal incentive at the show then go with the small discount. I'm sitting here thinking that 25 free servings is WAY too big of a discount. For me... that would be giving away $125 in cake. WAY too much. The 10% discount for bookings at the show would be good. And do make sure it's only for the cost of the cake like the PP said. I wouldn't put too many restrictions on it... 100 serving minimum is good, but for me... I wouldn't care when they booked the tasting. So long as you have that non-reundable deposit, it's up to them to book and if they don't... well then you just made an easy $50.00.

If you want to offer something free... then maybe the top tier up to 6". So the equivalent of 10 free servings. Much easier to give away the money for 10 servings than 25. Maybe a free honeymoon cake? A little 4" cake for them to enjoy on their wedding night.

A very sharp and expensive marketing guru told me, "Never discount .. always add value." So while it's almost just a matter of semantics, go with the added value.

Add 25 extra sevings.Add a limited design groom's cake (Max value: $75 or something. Most of my groom's cakes were 8" rounds with a minimal design).Add a dozen free chocolate covered strawberries for the head table or for the couple only.Add fondant at the buttercream price.Add a 6" Parents Cake .... a small cake the parents could take home with them after the wedding. A memento of their child's special day.

My brides were always happier to have a "perceived" freeby than a discount. I never charged extra for different cake flavors or fillings and they LUV'D it that they could have "anything I want????!!!!" for "free".

How about a drawing for all couples booked at the show? Advertise that all couples that book their wedding date at the show will put in a drawing for... a free bridal shower cake (up to a certain serving amount), grooms cake, anniversary tier...whatever you think is best. That way no matter how many brides book that day, you are only giving away 1 thing.

A very sharp and expensive marketing guru told me, "Never discount .. always add value." So while it's almost just a matter of semantics, go with the added value.

Add 25 extra sevings.Add a limited design groom's cake (Max value: $75 or something. Most of my groom's cakes were 8" rounds with a minimal design).Add a dozen free chocolate covered strawberries for the head table or for the couple only.Add fondant at the buttercream price.Add a 6" Parents Cake .... a small cake the parents could take home with them after the wedding. A memento of their child's special day.

My brides were always happier to have a "perceived" freeby than a discount. I never charged extra for different cake flavors or fillings and they LUV'D it that they could have "anything I want????!!!!" for "free".

brilliant! i love this idea i never really felt comfortable with a "discount".

Thanks everybody,I agree with the add value concept. I don't want to give the discount.

I like the idea:Advertise that all couples that book their wedding date at the show will be put in a drawing for... a free bridal shower cake.

I had already made the sign for the 10% discount, but I think I will just change it.

Yes I am getting sales from the show, but not enough to cover the overhead expenses. I thought this will be a good way of increasing sales. Because the brides love the cakes at the show, but then not too many are contacting me.

The show is in less than 25 days. I will let you know how it turned out.Thanks again!

IndyDeb...you're the best!!! Never thought of added value. You just gave me a great idea for the bridal show I have coming up!!! You give such great advice...and right to the point, too. You've never led me astray!!!

IndyDeb...you're the best!!! Never thought of added value. You just gave me a great idea for the bridal show I have coming up!!! You give such great advice...and right to the point, too. You've never led me astray!!!

I have some great wedding vendors friends who happily share with me, too. I just pass it on!

Update:I had the show, in the first two hours, the brides were interested, but did not want to pull the money out.My guess is, that being such a big show, why would you want to commit to one baker, I would want to go home and think about it. Any way...

Since I was the owner of the promotion, I decided to change the deal, if I saw a bride interested in the promotion, I told her, all I wanted from her was to book her tasting that day, and she could get the 25 servings free, they loved the idea. All tasting are in the next 30 days.So I got 4 tastings in my agenda, out of the promotion, now I have to wait and see if they become orders.

I just did my first show a couple weeks ago, and I learned a lot. I also got tons of amazing advice here, of course! I printed on my flyer I handed out at the show that they'd get 10% off if they booked within 30 days. I'm finding I didn't need to offer that. So far I've booked 8 cakes because of the show and none of them have mentioned the discount. I gave it to them, of course, because I was running that promotion, but they all have been pleaseantly surprised to get the discount and had forgotten about it. So I could have booked them all at the regular price anyway. Next show.....no discounts! My prices are very, very competitive as it is.

Second thing I learned is I actually don't want to book a bunch of brides at the show. It takes up way too much time to book a cake, get all their information, talk design, collect a deposit, etc, and I think unless you had a bunch of other people to help you take orders, if you spend too much time booking one cake, you could be missing out on talking to other interested brides that could result in a sale. I looked at the show as connecting with a bunch of other vendors (which so far has been a huge benefit and I'm already seeing lots of potential sales coming from other vendors referring me) and then getting my brochure, flyer, or business card into as many brides hands as I can while they are at the show. Then they can go home, look at my site, and call me to schedule an appointment where we can have time to talk about their exact cake and then book it at that point.

That's just what I learned on my first show. Oh, and I also learned that I should have had a "contact me for more information" sign-up sheet at my booth that very intersested brides could leave the contact information and I could then email the ones who really are interested. I'll be doing that next time too.

I, personally, love the idea of the free choco covered strawberries. As a bride that would have been a great bonus my husband and I could take on our honeymoon! I would have loved it! I haven't done a show yet, still new to the business, but I'm hoping to do so next January. I think I'm going to use that as incentive for those brides who do end up booking with me within 30 days of the show. I don't really want to book the brides AT the show but would love for them to meet with me for a tasting/booking session within 30 days of the show. I could make up stickers to go on the back of my business cards and those who turn in the business cards and book their cake with me would get the "honeymoon gift" as their bonus.

That is what I love about this place...you just keep learning something new just about every day.